If you don't want to buy the carpet kit from Hobie, go to Home Depot and buy some of their indoor/outdoor carpet. They have a nice medium grey that looks pretty good. Also, buy a can of 3M super trim advesive. It is about 9 bucks a bottle. cut the carpet into about 6-6 1/2 inch strips and spray the living daylights out of the backs of the carpets and make sure you get the edges well. Make sure the rails are clean--you can use Acetone for that. Spray the rails pretty well, too, then wait for both (rails and carpet) to dry. That should take about 15-30 minutes depending on the temperature. Then, install the carpet on the rails. The glue works on pressure and really sticks to itself well, so you need to spend a few minutes really pressing on and squeezing the rails to get it to set. That's it--pretty easy and I have had it last for several years on my boats.

If you sail in a sandy area, the carpet gets sand and grit caught in it- kind of hard on any body parts that slide across it. I've got a 16 with carpet and a14 with neoprene. I sail mostly from beaches, and the neoprene seems better. It shreds easier-though. Dave

I always have liked neoprene. It wears pretty well and has good traction, but the BEST thing is when you are derigging on the trailer and you have to lean over the side rail to reach something on the trampoline... you don't get wet as you would from soggy carpet.